Refrigerating apparatus



June 23, 1931. J. 6. KING REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 28, 1927 June 23, 1931. .1. G. KING REFRIGERATING APPARATUS I Filed Sept. 28. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Quota:

Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JESSE G. KING, OFDAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO FRIGIDAIRE CORPORATION,A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Application filedSeptember 28, 1927. Serial No. 222,673.

This invention relates to refrigerating ap-' paratus particularly to theform of refrigerating element and its arrangement in householdrefrigerator cabinets. One of the objects of the present invention is toprovide an evaporator which is eflective to cool circulating air in arefrigerating cabinet and to freeze ice for table use, and which may beplaced within a confined space.

Another object of the invention is to improve and simplify thearrangement and con struction of evaporators to reduce their cost ofmanufacture and to facilitate their installation.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly20 shown.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are front and side elevations respectively of anevaporator constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of a household refrigerating cabinet, a portionbeing broken away to show my improved evaporator therein, and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 30 H of Fig. 3.

In mechanical household refrigerators it is usual to provide arefrigerating element or evaporator which serves two purposes, coolingcirculating air in order to cool the cabinet, and freezing ice fortableuse. In small cabinets designed to beplaced in restricted spaces, foodstorage space is important, hence little space is available for theevaporator and consequently special provision must be made to enable anevaporator which will serve both these purposes to be installed in suchcabinets. One form of evaporator widely in use includes a header such asindicated by in Figs. 1 and 2 forming a reservoir for liquid refrigerantsupplied thereto through a conduit 11 and from which refrigerant vaporis withdrawn through a conduit 12 by any suitable refrigeratorapparatus, not shown. The supply of liquid refri erant to the header isregulated by a float va ve in the header as more fully disclosed in thepatent to Osborn No. 1,556,708, October 13, 1925. In order to be able todisconnect the header from the refrigerating apparatus in service, therefrigerant conduits 11 and 12 are ordinarily connected to shut-oilvalves 13 and 14 which are attached to cover plate 15 which carries thefloat valve referred to and forms the closure for the end of the header.Each shut-off valve includes a housing 1311 which contains a valve stem(not shown) and which is closed by a plug 136 for preventing the escapeof any refrigerant which might possibly leak past the stem when thevalve is open. The valve may be operated by removing the plug andinserting a key. The structure and arrangement of the portions of thevalves within the casings may be as more fully shown in the applicationof Jesse G. King and Harry B. Hull, Serial No. 209,587, filed July 30,1927.

Due to the space requirements'of the float mechanism and to the spaceoccupied by the shut-01f valves, the header is necessarily long.Evaporators of this type heretofore made include, besides the headerreferred to, a numberof loops of pipe depending from the header forcirculating refrigerant and for enclosing an ice freezing space, all asmore fully disclosed in the application of Jesse G. King, Serial No.666,257, filed September 29, 1923.

There is a large class of refrigerator cabinets for use in restrictedspaces which are relatively wide from side to side and relatively thinfrom front to back so as not to project any great distance in the roomin which they are used. Such a cabinet is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4,wherein 30 designates a cabinet having a cooling compartment 31 and afood storage compartment 32. The two compartments are separated by apartition 33, having an opening 34 to permit the flow ofcold air fromthe cooling compartment to the storage compartment, and having sideopenings 35 for the flow of warm air from the storage compartment to thecooling compartment. Vertical baflles 36 form flues 37 which carry thewarm air from the storage compartment up into the top of the coolingcompartment from where it flows downward-" ly in contact with therefrigerating element and thence out through the opening 34;. Thecooling compartment and storage compartment are provided with doors 38and 39 respectively. The evaporators heretofore constructed cannot beplaced in such cabinets because the necessary length of the headerprevents the evaporator being placed in the cabinet with its axisperpendicular to the door, that is, so that ice trays may be withdrawnfrom the freezing space.

In accordance with my invention I prefer to construct the evaporatorwith the usual header and to form the freezing space by a number of fiatloops of conduit 20, which are arranged in planes transverse to the axisof the header. Preferably two groups of such loops are used, eachconsisting of a plurality of loops as shown in Fig. 2, the groups beingarranged in two planes parallel to each other and transverse to the axisof the header. These planes define a freezing space 21 in which isplaced one or more enclosures 22 for ice-making receptacles. Preferablythe enclosures are in the form of metal sleeves open atone end and areclosed at the other end by a metal plate 24, and soldered to the tubes20. The sleeves form pockets or chambers for receiving pans in whichwater is frozen.

In accordance with my invention I place the evaporator in the coolingcompartment 31 of the cabinet with its header parallel to the door andwith the open end of the ice chamber toward the door. The evaporator issupported inthe cabinet in any suitable manner as by resting on blocks40. Thus although the cabinet is too thin from front to'back to receivethe usual evaporator, my invention .enables an evaporator of adequatecapacity to be placed in this restricted space. The loops 20 circulaterefrigerant to freeze water within the enclosures 22 and air circulatingup through the side flues 37 and down over the header is chilled to coolthe storage compartment below. The shut-off valves are preferablyarranged so as to point toward the door and are consequently readilyaccessible. Likewise the freezing compartment is placed in the mostconvenient manner, ice trays being removable from the front of theevaporator when the door is open.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claim whichfollows.

What is claimed is as follows:

Refrigerating apparatus comprisin in combination a refrigerator cabinethaving a. cooling compartment; a door forming a closure for the front ofsaid compartment; and a refrigeratin element including an elongatedheader orming a reservoir for liquid refrigerant extending substantiallythe entire width of the compartment, an elongated casing for supportinan ice-makin contalner transverse to t e header and avlng an openingfacing the door, and a lurality nature.

JESSE G. KING.

